What you see above is an actual chart published on EA's official help channel. That any game requires a complex chart to explain to players when and how they can actually play the game is absurd.
That's worth stressing: No game should require players to consult a chart in order to figure out when they can play it.
By doing so, EA illustrated an ongoing issue with modern blockbuster games.
In an effort to diversify and increase profits while facing increasingly high production costs, many blockbuster games come in a variety of different editions. In the case of "Anthem," there was a standard edition for $60 and a "Legion of Dawn" edition which cost $20 more. Pretty simple so far!
Here's where it gets complicated: EA offers several different subscription services.
If you pay $5 a month or $30 a year for EA Access, which is available only on Xbox One, you could start playing "Anthem" on February 15. If you pay $5 a month or $30 a year for EA's Origin Access Basic plan, which is only available on PC, you also could start playing "Anthem" on February 15.
For everyone else, the game officially launched on February 22.
That applied even if you preordered the game and paid $80 for the special "Legion of Dawn" version and, more bizarrely, even if you pay for the more expensive tier of EA's Origin Access program. Huh?
It was, put simply, a mess — a mess that came with its own chart to illustrate how much of a mess it was. "Anthem" was taking flak before it even came out.